Desperation in Death – J.D. Robb

The Sunday Times bestselling series is back with a gripping new thriller that pits homicide detective Eve Dallas against a conspiracy of exploitation and evil…

Mina Rose Cabot, age thirteen, disappeared walking home from soccer practice in Devon, Pennsylvania.

Eight months later her body is found in Battery Park, New York, speared through the chest by a three-inch piece of wood.

Lt. Eve Dallas knows that whoever took Mina is responsible for her death. But who took her and where has Mina been for eight long months…?

I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley

This is novel fifty five in the Eve Dallas series – there have been short stories and novellas along the way too. I have missed two along the way (they are on a bookshelf in my house waiting for me to get to them). It is safe to say I am a fan of J.D. Robb and I always look forward to each new Eve Dallas novel.

For those not in the know, reading the first fifty four novels are not essential to enjoying this book. After the introduction of the character back in Naked in Death you can pretty much read the books any old way you like. Down the years characters have been introduced, coupled up, had babies, lost loved ones and grown as their backstories get developed. After fifty plus stories the respective backstories are so well developed that the cast of these books feel like old friends to me. I miss them when I am not reading about them.

The books have delighted (mainly) down the years but, as you may expect, some just didn’t quite land for me. Dallas is a murder cop in New York and the stories are set in the future – somewhere around the year 2060. This may put off some readers but this series delivers terrific murder tales with each new book and I love watching Dallas and her team closing in on the bad guys. After so many years of reading I have decided some stories deliver more on developing the characters and throwing big pivotal events into their timeline (with a crime in the background) whereas most books give a solid murder story to enjoy while the characters mainly work their personal lives around the latest investigation. Desperation in Death is very much a story about the crime and not a tale to shake up the characters. That said, this is one of the biggest and most harrowing adventures which Dallas and friends have had to face for quite some time.

The blurb teases the story up really nicely. A young girl is heading home and vanishes. She turns up eight months later – a large piece of wood is sticking out of her chest and she is quite dead. But the girl has only just died, she is well fed, shows evidence of having expensive hair and nail treatments and is wearing expensive clothing. Where has she been for those eight months and why has nobody seen her?

As Eve begins to look into the murder of the young girl she discovers there may have been a second girl in the area at the same time. The reader knows who the second girl was and how both came to be together at a crime scene (which one of them never left). They also know the trauma both girls have endured prior to Eve entering their lives. It’s a compelling build up and once Eve and her colleagues start to piece together the connections between the two girls we are all on a fast paced race-against-time thriller.

The stakes are higher than we have seen for some time and if there is any hope to save dozens of vulnerable children then everything the NYPD do must be done quickly, quietly and there is no room for error. I was hooked.

I knew before I picked up Desperation in Death that I would enjoy the story – I wasn’t prepared for how engrossed I would become in this particular story. Chapters flew by and I finished the whole book in a single day. I love these stories and I’m already waiting for the next one.

Desperation in Death is published by Piatkus and is available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09Z1R3F7T/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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October 24

Marple: Twelve New Stories

A brand new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Crime’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors.

The first print run will be a true collector’s edition with a gold foiled design on the cover board

This collection of twelve original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.

Naomi Alderman
Leigh Bardugo
Alyssa Cole
Lucy Foley
Elly Griffiths
Natalie Haynes
Jean Kwok
Val McDermid
Karen M. McManus
Dreda Say Mitchell
Kate Mosse
Ruth Ware

Miss Marple was first introduced to readers in a story Christie wrote for The Royal Magazine in 1927 and made her first appearance in a full-length novel in 1930’s The Murder at the Vicarage. It has been 45 years since Agatha Christie’s last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, and this collection of ingenious new stories by twelve Christie devotees will be a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains the most famous fictional female detective of all time.

I received a review copy from the publishers (Harper Collins) via Netgalley

In 1989 Queen released an album called The Miracle. They were the only band I would really listen to at that time in my life and I remember it clearly. At the same time I was on an Agatha Christie reading marathon. I had borrowed an Agatha Christie novel from my favourite aunt and it sparked my love for Poirot, Jane Marple, Tommy and Tuppence and all the other characters that crop up over the dozens of books. I remember those years very fondly.

Spin forward to 2022 and I am listening to a brand new Queen song (which had been left off The Miracle album by the band in 1989) and I am reading twelve new Miss Marple stories. Pinch me – I may be dreaming! Never would I have thought either of these things would have been possible.

As much as I enjoyed the new Queen single, reading Marple was the better of the two experiences.

If there is an Agatha Christie fan in your family then this book is an essential read for them – casts an eye towards Christmas here. I had a good look at the hardback copy before I posted my review and it is absolutely stunning – under the dust jacket are all the signatures of the contributing authors (in gold) which almost makes me want to display that on my shelves rather than the cover depicted above.

I have never found a collection of short stories where I have enjoyed every single story. In this collection of twelve Marple tales there are some contributions I enjoyed more than others and there was only one where was irked by the outcome. That’s a fantastic return for me as I don’t normally enjoy a short story collection. But in the case of Marple the continuity of the central character negated my normal frustration. I find a collection of individual (random) stories being too “bitty” to fully embrace for any length of time.

I’ve no intention to run through each of the stories and break down my thoughts on each – this review would run out of control if I tried that. What I will say is Jane Marple finds herself overseas in the theatres of USA, on a cruise ship and she frequently nips around the UK visiting friends and relatives or dining at University tables. Everywhere she goes those “twinkling blue eyes” see problems, upset and (most importantly) to the truth behind some shocking incidents. This is what we all wanted to see in these stories and fans will not be disappointed.

Not every case involves a murder, I did wonder if that would be the case, and it was pleasing to see not all the authors bumped off a character. Each story gives a good demonstration of the famous Jane Marple observation powers and more than once she will place herself in danger when a murderer realises this seemingly harmless old woman could expose their cleverly concealed criminal activites.

There is fun to be found in Marple – the idea of a second Murder at the Vicarage made me laugh out loud. The determination of Miss Marple and her friends to indulge in many a sherry (why not?) crops up in more than one tale. And there were many mentions of the nephew Raymond who seems to delight or frustrate in equal measure. While I am not sure if Marple would be a great introduction to the character – there are quite a few nods to the source material – for existing fans the opportuinty to read new stories featuring Jane Marple is an unexpected delight and I am extremely grateful to all the contributing authors for making that possible.

Marple is available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/marple-twelve-new-stories/agatha-christie/naomi-alderman/9780008467319

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October 21

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Peter Laws

Imagine you are asked to assemble a brand new library. You have dozens of empty bookshelves waiting to be filled and you want to ensure the visitors to your library only have the very best books to choose from. The classics, the most popular, the much loved books but also the books which readers love – the story which made them want to write too, a childhood comfort read or the book which brings them most joy on the darkest days. Where do you start if you have to bring all those titles together in one place?

Well I decided to do just that – I imagined the Decades Library. But I knew I didn’t have the reading knowledge to fill the shelves with all those reading treasures so each week I invite a guest curator to join me here at Grab This Book and I ask them to nominate their recommended reading for my Library shelves.

When I ask my guest to nominate the books they feel should belong in the Ultimate Library (my Decades Library) I ask them to follow two simple rules:

1 – You Can Choose ANY Five Books

2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades.

Simple. Or so I thought – but I get grumbled at on a fairly regular basis.

No grumbles this week as Peter Laws grasped the challenge and hit me up with five brand new titles which I shall add to the Library shelves.

Peter Laws is an author, journalist and podcaster. He wrote the acclaimed non-fiction book ‘The Frighteners: Why We Love Monsters, Ghosts, Death and Gore’ (Icon Books, 2018). This is a globe-trotting explanation (and defence) of the human morbid streak.

He has also written the Matt Hunter series of scary crime fiction novels (Allison and Busby, 2017 – 2020). He is the writer and host of the popular, scary true stories podcast ‘Frightful’. He is the creator of ‘Creepy Cove Community Church’. A podcast which offers full and immersive church services broadcast from a mysterious haunted fishing town – where all horror movies actually happened. This inventive mix of comedy, horror, music and wellbeing support, has been described as ‘Stephen King meets Songs of Praise.’

Peter is an ordained church minister and has worked in various Churches, though he now focuses on writing and podcasting. He is a popular speaker at festivals and conferences, and he writes a monthly column in the print magazine, ‘The Fortean Times.’ He is also a featured ‘expert’ BBC show, Uncanny, with Danny Robins.

DECADES

1970s: 1978 – The Spiders by Richard Lewis

Whenever I read fiction, my genre of choice is usually horror – and in particular, pulpy horror novels from the 1970s and 1980s. Affectionately known as ‘Paperbacks from Hell’, these mass-produced shockers seemed throwaway at the time. Yet they have a wonderful mix of charm, nostalgia, edgy content and gross-out shock. As an example, I submit Spiders by Richard Lewis. It’s a skin crawling tale of a village attacked by millions of flesh eating spiders. His descriptions of people waking up at night (to find their carpets swamped with spiders) is terrifying, but the grim detail in the death scenes made me want to applaud and vomit, all at the same time. At a mere 153 pages long, Siders is a short, sharp, tightly written hit of really horrible horror. You should probably avoid it if you have arachnophobia. And if you haven’t got it, congratulations. You will by the last page.

1980s: 1987 – Strangers by Taichi Yamada

I stumbled across this book in my thirties, and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s about a recently divorced man call Hideo. He’s a successful TV scriptwriter but he has few friends and no family – his parents were killed in a hit and tun accident, when he was 12. He’s lonely, and it doesn’t help that he lives in a Tokyo office building with a very small number of apartments. It’s so deserted at night that he feels a compulsion to walk back to his childhood neighbourhood to feel connected. While there he’s astonished to meet a couple who look remarkably like his parents. They are ten years younger than he is, so it couldn’t possibly be them…could it? It’s a clever, beautiful, and really quite moving book, with a shivery thread of the supernatural throughout. I loved it.

1990s: 1998 – 99 – Uzumaki by Junji Ito

If Strangers was beautiful, this next book (a graphic novel from Japan) is it’s direct opposite. Sure, the artwork is amazing and rich, but this is absolutely rammed with bizarre, horrific and genuinely frightening images. It’s set in Kurozo-cho, a small foggy town where the locals a starting to be haunted. Not by a ghost or a demon…but by a pattern. They keep seeing spirals everywhere. In the clouds, in seashells, in whirlpools. This spiral madness spreads throughout the town with truly nightmarish results. I read this book last year. I’d dip in a bit just before drifting off to sleep. There were several times when I woke up in the deepest ditch of the night, and I questioned my life choices. Try it.

2000s: 2009 – Shatnerquake by Jeff Burke

I figured there was space for a totally insane and ridiculous self-published book from Jeff Burk. Simply because I thought it was a blast. ‘Shatnerquake’ takes place at Shatnercon: the world’s biggest convention for William Shatner fans. Shatner is there in attendance, but he deeply wishes he wasn’t. That’s because a ‘reality bomb’ gets detonated and it somehow brings every character that Shatner has ever played, to life! Their mission: to hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner. I’m a big William Shatner fan and I do not make any apology for that. So I found the idea of a homicidal Captain Kirk and murderous TJ Hooker trying to kill their creator, to be irresistible. A glance at the opening quote ought to tell you that this book is not officially endorsed by the Shat: ‘How do I stay so healthy and boyishly handsome? It’s simple. I drink the blood of young runaways’. – William Shatner.

2010s – 2011: Falling Upward by Fr. Richard Rohr

Finally I offer a non-fiction book with a concept that really touched me. Father Richard Rohr is an intelligent, open-hearted and engaging Franciscan monk, who makes the case that our lives are split into two halves. The first half feels more simplistic, where our opinions and ideas are often clear and in black and white. Yet the second half of life can become confusing or contradictory, where ideas we thought were solid are challenged and where we see a catalogue of our own failures and mistakes building. This loss of foundation and confidence can seem like a disorientating loss, but Rohr persuasively argues that it is an essential gain – a fall, upward. Being a Christian myself, I found Rohr’s open minded faith to be invigorating, and it’s an important reminder that what can feel like spiritual confusion, might actually be spiritual maturity.

Sometimes I share a new selection of recommendations and I am frantically trying to remember if any of the five have featured recently. As I put together Peter’s selections I was quite confident none of his selections have featured in the 21 months of Decades. There have been very few non-fiction selections, fewer graphic novels and horror (beyond Mr King) is scarce too. Shockingly this is also the first mention of William Shatner. Some real variety to get your teeth into – thanks Peter!

DECADES WILL RETURN

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October 18

The Dying Squad – Adam Simcox (audiobook)

WHO BETTER TO SOLVE A MURDER THAN A DEAD DETECTIVE?

When Detective Inspector Joe Lazarus storms a Lincolnshire farmhouse, he expects to bring down a notorious drug gang; instead, he discovers his own dead body and a spirit guide called Daisy-May.

She’s there to enlist him to the Dying Squad, a spectral police force made up of the recently deceased. Joe soon realises there are fates far worse than death. To escape being stuck in purgatory, he must solve his own murder.

Reluctantly partnering with Daisy-May, Joe faces dangers from both the living and the dead in the quest to find his killer – before they kill again.

I am reviewing my bought copy of the audiobook of The Dying Squad

The blurb (above) actually contains spoilers for the first few chapters of the book. Probably just as well as it would be really tricky to try to review The Dying Squad while trying to keep quiet the fact the lead character, Joe Lazarus, is dead. Not that Lazarus knows it immediately. We join him on a stakeout as he prepares to bring down a gang who have been providing drugs to the local community. The property under surveliance is an isolated farmhouse but when Lazarus enters the property he finds two suspects dead in the hallway and – shockingly – his own dead body in an upstairs room.

Throughout this introduction Lazarus is being accompanied by Daisy-May. She strolled over to speak with him while he was watching the farmhouse and then, despite all his warnings, she followed him into the property and was with him when he discovered his body. Daisy-May is dead too. But she has had more experience at being dead and it is her job to guide him into his afterlife and into purgatory.

No rest for Joe Lazarus, he has a job to do for the woman that runs purgatory. She needs Lazarus to return to earth and find his killer. He will have Daisy-May for company and she will help him investigate and to understand what he can and cannot do now that he is dead. Having Lazarus and Daisy-May together for so much of the story means their interactions need to be fun and by God they are. I loved the zippy one-liners, the sass and the sarcasm. Daisy-May is such a strong character and I loved listening to her keeping Lazarus in check.

One element of The Dying Squad which I really enjoyed was the way Adam Simcox built up the real world, the afterlife and how the characters traverse between the two. Then there are the citizens of purgatory – a mass of lost souls or a sinister collective seeking a purpose? I wasn’t sure how they may fit into the story but contrast that to the evil forces (both on this earth and beyond it). There are bad guys in The Dying Squad and there are REALLY bad guys. The author can dispense some particularly nasty punishment to his characters when a fate worse than death is a geninue threat that will keep them focused on their mission.

It’s clever and creative storytelling in The Dying Squad and as all the “normal” rules are suspended I really did not know what may lie ahead for Lazarus and Daisy-May. Adam Simcox does a great job of developing his key characters, I was buying into their stories right from the first pages and the shocks they expereinced were equally shocking to me. Terrific fun to read – or to listen to in my case.

The audiobook is narrated by Sophie Aldred (soon to be seen back on our television screens reprising her role as Ace in Doctor Who). As a long time fan of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio adentures I have listened to Sophie Aldred’s voice on more dog walks than I can count. As such, listening to her reading The Dying Squad was an absolute treat. She captured the feisty nature of Daisy-May superbly and brought the gravitas and drama for Lazarus as he contended with the changes in his life (beginning with his death). I have a short list of favourite audiobook narrators but after hearing The Dying Squad I will need to make that short list a little bit longer.

The Dying Squad comes with lashings of darkness and you’ll need to have an acceptance for fantasy in your crime stories to enjoy this book as much as I did. Personally I couldn’t get enough of this story and because I was a little late to the party in discovering The Dying Squad the sequal, The Generation Killers, has already been released. Reader – I have bought that too.

The Dying Squad is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-dying-squad/adam-simcox/9781473230767

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October 14

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Trevor Wood

Every Friday I welcome a guest to Grab This Book and I ask them to help me add new books to my Decades Library. It’s a project I started back in January 2021 and over the last 20 months my Library has grown beyond my wildest dreams.

If you haven’t encountred by Decades Library in the past then let me quickly explain what’s happening. I imagined a brand new library, a vast space filled with empy book shelves waiting for the books to be added. But which books? If you had to curate a brand new library and only wanted the very best books to be available for readers which books would you choose?

I knew this was not a task I could complete on my own so I invite guests to join me each week and I ask them to nominate five books which they believe should be added to my libary shelves. But why is it a “Decades” Library? Well there are two rules which govern the selections my guests can make:

1 – Pick ANY Five Books
2 – You Can Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades.

This week I am delighted to welcome CWA Dagger winner Trevor Wood to the Library. Trevor is the third member of the Northern Crime Writing Syndicate who has made their Decades selections (and a fourth syndicate member will soon make an appearance).

But enough explanations, you’re here for Trevor’s choices so it’s time to hand over control of the Library to Mr Wood…

Trevor Wood has lived in Newcastle for 30 years and considers himself an adopted Geordie, though he still can’t speak the language. He’s a successful playwright who has also worked as a journalist and spin-doctor for the City Council. Prior to that he served in the Royal Navy for 16 years. Trevor holds an MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) from UEA.

His first novel The Man on the Street, which is set in his home city and features the homeless protagonist, Jimmy Mullen, won the Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasey New Blood Dagger for best debut and the Crimefest Specsavers Debut Novel of the Year. It was also shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and has been optioned for television by World Productions, the makers of Line of Duty. It was followed by the highly-acclaimed sequel, One Way Street and the final book in the trilogy, Dead End Street was released in January. His next book, You Can Run, a standalone thriller set in rural Northumberland is out in March 2023.

Trevor is one of the founder members of the Northern Crime Syndicate and is a volunteer chef at the People’s Kitchen in Newcastle, a charity that provides hot meals for around 250 people every day.

@TrevorWoodWrite

www.trevorwoodauthor.co.uk

DECADES

Whenever I’m making any kind of list about books that inspired me to want to write I always start with A Clockwork Orange and build around that so the 1960s had to be on my list. I couldn’t leave Dennis Lehane off either so my fifty-year period was almost inevitable. It’s a lot darker than I would have anticipated but I used to be a comedy writer so when I decided to turn myself into a ‘gritty’ crime writer I devoured a ton of dark stuff, especially James Ellroy and David Peace and have clearly developed a taste for it. Though I first read A Clockwork Orange when I was about 14 so maybe it’s always been there!

The River of Adventure Enid Blyton 1955

I know she had her faults but Enid Blyton was my gateway drug into crime fiction. The Secret Seven and The Famous Five were great but my favourites were always the Adventure gang, Jack, Lucy-Ann, Philip, Dinah and Kiki. How could you not love a gang of crime-solving kids with a pet parrot?

A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess 1962

The first ‘grown-up’ book that really spoke to me. Alex was the first cool anti-hero I’d ever come across and the made-up Nadsat language was like a secret code that kept the grown-ups at a distance, a lot of kids at my school started using it to wind up the teachers. It’s a great shame that the terrible Kubrick film concentrated so much on the violence and ultimately led to Burgess dismissing his own work as the book is about much more than that. Dark, challenging and, for me, at times, profound.

The Dice Man 1971 Luke Rhinehart

Another pitch black, cool book, dangerous almost. The bored protagonist, Luke, starts to make all his decisions on the throw of a dice which leads him into some very nihilistic territory. Many thought it was autobiographical when it first came out, probably because the author used a pseudonym and legend has it that a lot of readers copied Luke’s approach in real life.

The Black Dahlia 1987 James Ellroy

No one else does it quite like Ellroy. The Black Dahlia was the first book in an outstanding quartet which also featured, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz. It portrayed a post-war Los Angeles peppered with violence, corruption, and voyeurism and was described by one critic as ‘the most ambitious and accomplished crime fiction in the history of American literature.’ They were spot on.

A Drink Before The War 1990 Dennis Lehane

The first in my favourite crime series, introducing Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, a beautifully realised pair of private detectives whose on-off relationship adds an extra dimension to some brilliant thrillers, including Gone Baby Gone which was made into an equally wonderful film by Ben Affleck. Lehane is a master of his craft – he was also one of the team of writers on the brilliant TV series, The Wire.

Decades always brings gems but sometimes one of my guests brings one of my favouite books to the Decades Library. Trevor has done just that today. Although I have likely read The River of Adventure a dozen times or more I have so much more love for the Kenzie and Gennaro books. A Drink Before the War wasn’t the first story I read in this brilliant series by Dennis Lehane but I remember when I did finally read it – it blew me away.

My thanks to Trevor for five storming selections – all to be added to the Decades Library.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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October 11

Wolf Pack – Will Dean

When there’s a pack on the hunt, nobody’s safe

A closed community

Rose Farm is home to a group of survivalists, completely cut off from the outside world. Until now.

A missing person

A young woman goes missing within the perimeter of the farm compound. Can Tuva talk her way inside the tight-knit group to find her story?

A frantic search

As Tuva attempts to unmask the culprit, she gains unique access to the residents. But soon she finds herself in danger of the pack turning against her – will she make her way back to safety so she can expose the truth?

Will Dean’s most heart-pounding Tuva Moodyson thriller yet takes Tuva to her absolute limits in exposing a heinous crime, and in her own personal life. Can she, and will she, do the right thing?

My thanks to Point Blank Crime for the review copy of Wolf Pack and to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this spot on the Wolf Pack blog tour.

A Tuva Moodyson book from Will Dean means a return to the wilds of Sweden, and stories which are set in a small town which feels lost in a big landscape. Despite the miles and miles of woodland which surround Tuva’s home town Mr Dean always manages to make these stories feel claustrophobic.

If you are new to these stories then you’ve missed some great books and I would highly recommend taking some time to catch up on the earlier titles. But if Wolf Pack is your introduction to Tuva’s world then you can rip straight into this book and not worry too much about what has gone before as the story is a self contained thriller. There is one significant incident in the previous books which casts a long shadow over Tuva’s situation but it is addressed in depth during Wolf Pack so you get all the information you need to follow the story. Beyond that Tuva is a journalist in a small town. She is deaf, tenatious, persistent and one of the best new protagonists to enter crime fiction in the last few years.

The story in Wolf Pack begins with a missing girl: Elsa Nyberg. She is twenty years old and works at Rose Farm which is an isoloated community where visitors are not welcomed and the residents are survivalists with no time or interest for things beyond their walls. Rose Farm has a dark history too which only serves to give the community and their settlement a dark vibe – it’s best avoided. Tuva, however, is not looking to avoid Rose Farm. She has been asked to look out for the Elsa and that will involve going to Rose Farm and asking questions.

As Wolf Pack is such a tight story it is hard to give too much detail about how the story unfolds without getting too far into spoiler territory. Suffice to say Tuva’s questions will start to uncover incidents and events which some people would prefer did not become common knowledge. She will put herself into danger in a pursuit for the truth but as Tuva doesn’t know who presents a danger to her it keeps her (and the reader) in a tense state as events unfold.

Will Dean always delivers with his Tuva Moodyson books and Wolf Pack is no exception. Once you step back into Tuva’s world there is no getting out until the author has told his story – it will shock, thrill and entertain. More of these please, always such fun.

Wolf Pack is available from Point Blank Crime in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09XN8GBBB/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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October 7

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Decima Blake

Time to add some new books to the Decades Library. I’ve had a sneaky look at the titles Decima has selected and you’re in for a real treat.

First up I will do the weekly recap…I am assembling the Ultimate Library. I started this project back in January 2021 and since then over fifty authors, bloggers, publishers and journalists have each nominated books which they believe should be added to a library which contains nothing but the very best books.

I call this project my Decades Library because of the second rule I impose upon my guest curators when they select the books they want to add to the library.

1 – You Can Select ANY Five Books
2 – You May Only Select One Book Per Decade From Five Consecutive Decades.

Five Books, Five Decades – a Decades Library.

Making their selections this week is Decima Blake. I read Decima’s latest thriller Hingston: Smoke and Mispers earlier this year. I loved the blend of modern detective fiction with links to an ancient Egyptian story and I was delighted when Decima agreed to take part in Decades. What books would have helped influence that creepy mystery?

In order to find out I will pass control of Decades to Decima Blake and let her whisk you back to 1908.

Decima Blake writes the genre-bending DS Hingston series, which blends modern day police procedure with historical fiction and a touch of spookiness. She conducts extensive research to bring realism and less common themes into her work. In Hingston: Smoke and Mispers, published in January 2022, Ancient Egyptian history becomes integral to the plot, taking Hingston and the Murder Squad into uncharted territory where warped interpretations and dark practices lead to a series of deaths. With a professional background in safeguarding and investigation, Decima’s fascination with detective fiction has extended to children’s literature. Quite the opposite of Hingston, Detective Dachshund of Battersea Police is not only a dog – he has a reputation for trying hard, but not being particularly effective. This determined wire-haired dachshund made his debut in April 2022 in Detective Dachshund and the Fluffy Thief, a slapstick story with a twist, written in rhyme and hand illustrated. Examples of Decima’s artwork can be seen on her gallery page of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators website, and on Instagram @detectivedachs. For all things Hingston related, including photography of the locations that feature in the series, head over to @decimablake on Instagram and Twitter.

DECADES

1908: The Roly-Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter

An attempted child murder under the floorboards of the family home. This was my first introduction to crime fiction, aged three. Naughty Tom Kitten is only just saved from the clutches of two villainous squatters, Samuel Whiskers and his wife, Anna Maria. These two large rats sought to eat him as the furry filling of a roly-poly pudding. Without a shred of morality, they went so far as to steal the very ingredients and rolling pin from Tom Kitten’s mother, Tabitha Twitchit. The negative impact on Tom Kitten is revealed to be life-changing (he should otherwise have benefited from a very good living as a rat-catcher, like his sisters), whilst the two offenders escape justice. A beautifully illustrated, memorable short story that warns of the potential pitfalls of childhood disobedience, and most importantly, the dangers that can be very close to home in the form of both male and female offenders. Revisiting this story now, having since worked in child safeguarding, I consider Beatrix Potter’s wisdom and method of delivery to be commendable.

1915: The Pavilion by E. Nesbit

A few years ago, whilst browsing in Waterstones, I spotted “E. Nesbit Horror Stories”. The name felt oddly out of place to me who knew no better. To my surprise and delight, this was a collection of short stories written for adults by the author of Five Children and It. I am a fan of M. R. James and his short stories (as you will read shortly), and for me, The Pavilion by E. Nesbit is on a par with the best of his. As such, it’s amongst my all-time favourites for its power to draw the reader into a vivid, unsettling tale. E. Nesbit’s summertime story entertains with the romance and bravado of young adulthood as enjoyed by the gentry of the 1860s, amongst which murderous intent lurks and a dark legend involving the estate’s pavilion is put to the test. The dreadful outcome delivered to Amelia, Ernestine, Eugene and Frederick should entertain any avid reader of spooky, gothic tales. First published in 1915 in The Strand Magazine, this short story reached the format of a book many decades later, and so I openly acknowledge my rule flexing.

The Pavilion is available to read through the online archive:

https://archive.org/details/1915thepavilionenesbitinstrandmagnov/page/n9/mode/2up

1925: The Haunted Dolls’ House by M. R. James

As those familiar with M. R. James’ short stories will know, many feature a bachelor whose scholarly wits and firmly-held beliefs are tested by a threatening supernatural entity in an isolated, unwelcoming location. I love M. R. James’ depictions of historic buildings and remote landscapes, and how he builds suspense by introducing doubts into the mind of the victim, notching up the anxiety level before something terrible strikes. There is an intimacy to his stories which absorbs me in the unnerving experiences of complete strangers, as my mind too, runs away with itself. The Haunted Dolls’ House, which was first published in A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories, is noticeably different. A married antiques dealer sells the dolls’ house to another dealer. “Thank God for that!”, says the first dealer’s wife, and the story begins. I like the way M. R. James chose to haunt the antique dolls’ house with a miniature tale that could have made a story in its own right, so that it is instead viewed remotely, from the ‘modern’ day. I do wonder whether the concept of a time capsule was M. R. James’ inspiration, used to acknowledge the thirty years that had passed since he published his first ghost story in The National Review in 1895. Certainly, I believe The Haunted Dolls’ House draws attention to the change of the times and you might find yourself contemplating, which is more disturbing, the supernatural or the natural?

1939: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

One of my two favourite Agatha Christie novels is And Then There Were None. It is likely that the fantastic 1980s film, Clue, had primed me to enjoy this story. Both involve a group of strangers brought together by the organiser of an exclusive event. Quite soon, the guests find themselves trapped within the confines of the estate, but only after they realise someone is systematically bumping them off. Personal secrets, suspicion and fear all come into play. Unlike the black comedy that is Clue, And Then There Were None is a serious whodunnit, famous for both its timelessly appealing storyline and its elegant, isolated setting that was inspired by the stunning Burgh Island in South Devon. I believe this particular Agatha Christie mystery gives readers a superb thrill in trying to fathom out who’s the murderer and who will be the next victim. Agatha Christie’s masterful words really do get you thinking. So, however many dramatised versions you may have watched, you must read the book!

1946: Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson

Beautiful scenery, exploration and adventure! If Moominland existed, I probably would be writing this from the beach where Moomintroll collected pearls. When you read the Moomins stories as a child, it feels like you are witnessing an excitingly dangerous form of homeschooling. There’s so much time to appreciate the world around you, your family and friends. Tove Jansson’s Comet in Moominland was the first book I chose from a school library that had a spine thick enough to display its title. I was eight-years-old at the time, and my new school in a new county was more stress-inducing than the fear of an impending comet strike. The escapism this book gave me was perfect because it was also educational. I love this book even more today for its character depth, captivating imagery and the seemingly effortless way in which Tove Jansson packages up the challenges life may throw at you and makes them both understandable and, most importantly, conquerable.

From Beatrix Potter to M.R. James and then to Tove Jansson, this is a sweeping run through wonderful books – but the opportunity to add And Then There Were None to the Decades Library was special. If nobody had added it then I would have had to use one of my own selections to get it in the mix. Thanks Decima.

DECADES WILL RETURN

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October 6

Silverweed Road – Simon Crook

There’s a new horror behind every door…

Welcome to Silverweed Road – a once quiet suburban street where nothing is quite as it seems. In this macabre collection of twisted tales, were-foxes prowl, a swimming pool turns predatory, a haunted urn plots revenge, and a darts player makes a deal with the devil himself.

As the residents vanish one by one, a sinister mystery slowly unpeels, lurking in the Woods at the road’s dead-end.

Creepy, chilling, and witty by turn, Silverweed Road deals in love, loss, isolation, loneliness, obsession, greed,and revenge.

Come take a walk through suburban hell. The neighbours will be dying to meet you …

I bought the audiobook through Audible. My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the Silverweed Road blog tour.

As we are approaching the season of spooky it was time to start shifting my reading back to the darker crime tales and picking up those horror books I have been meaning to read. When Silverweed Road came onto my radar I immediately wanted to read it as I was fascinated by the idea of a haunted street – not containing the terrors to a single “haunted house” but having the issues extend to a neighbourhood.

Further investigation of the book revealed Silverweed Road was a short story collection it is described as “a collection of twisted tales” which gave me a little pause for thought (by now the book was in my Audible library). I don’t tend to enjoy short stories in a single collection. I can read individual stories without problem but when I try to pour through a whole book the bitty and fragmented nature of the individual stories tends to have me drifting away to other books. How would my personal wariness of collected stories impact upon my enjoyment of Silverweed Road? NOT AT ALL.

Yes it is a collection of twisted tales. Yes there are different characters cropping up in each of the stories (I liked how Simon Crook has identfied each new story as a house number on the street). Yes the stories are hugely varied and totally unexpected. Yes this SHOULD trigger my inability to focus and keep reading. But as soon as each character’s story was over I rolled straight into the next. This is entirely down to the damn fine linking work the author has layered through the book.

Overarching through the whole book is an overseer. A watcher. Someone who has identified Silverweed Road as an oddity. A former police investigator has been conducting his own research and investigation into events on this ill fated street. He has noticed the unusual pattern of death, mishaps and mysteries and at the end of each story in the collection he shares his thoughts and puts the story into a bigger/broader context. This worked particularly well in the audiobook as there are two narrators for the stories and a third narrator for the policeman. It disassocated the horrors from the analytical investigation and it is really effective.

In addition to the investigation into strange events there are elements from one story which feature elsewhere. A recurring appearance of a Jackdaw which means nothing in some stories but then means much more when you have read the story where a Jackdaw plays a significant role. There is reference to a noise in the street which several characters hear while dealing with their own problems – it is a very big problem for one resident of Silverweed Road though and when the loud noise is explained you get the payoff which has been building for many chapters. There are other teases, neighbours with a cameo in one tale that eventually feature as the main player in their own story some time later.

As for the twisted tales themselves – they are wonderfully dark. Some chilled me with a ghostly edge, some were disturbing on an “eew” level and some I enjoyed more than others (as is always the way with short stories). But as a collection – a linked collection – of horror tales I had an absoulte ball with Silverweed Road.

I know not everyone enjoys being scared or reading creepy and disturbing stories but if Halloween is your season and you love a festival of fright then this is for you

Silverweed Road released in hardback, digital and audiobook format on 29 September and is available here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/silverweed-road/simon-crook/9780008479930

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